Aficionados of fine watches and jewelry travelling through the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, will be pleased to know that Chopard now has an exclusive boutique in the duty free area of the new terminal.

The new boutique, which opened its doors last month, is based on the brand’s design concept first featured at Chopard’s flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York in the US in 2007.

Designed by the famous French architect Thierry Despont, the concept has since been applied to all new openings and will in due course be present in all the brand’s boutiques.

The boutique features light-toned wood (white oak), opulent leathers, silk and precious velvet, along with a fireplace.

Despont has chosen to maintain the plush, comfortable charm of the former boutiques, while modernising it to create the feeling of visiting a beautiful private home with well-defined areas accommodating high jewellery creations, watches and accessories.

He has done so while focusing on a sense of intimacy conducive to enabling customers to stroll around the stores in a relaxing manner. Each detail of these points of sale has been thought through in conjunction with Caroline Scheufele, Co-President and Artistic Director of Chopard

“With these new environments, we want to encourage our clients to discover the multiple facets of the Chopard universe,” she says.

Chopard’s first boutique was opened in Hong Kong in 1983. By 1998, there were just 15 points of sale worldwide. Since then, brand development has steadily accelerated. Chopard is currently represented in 130 countries through 1,600 points of sale and more than 147 dedicated boutiques, located in the world’s major capitals and in the finest shopping centres.

Qatar Duty Free (QDF) is one of the Middle East’s outstanding success stories. Having been in existence for just over 13 years, it is today the second largest duty free operator in the region and 25th largest in the world.

QDF has found a new home within Hamad International Airport (HIA), which allows it to fully realise its more holistic vision that encompasses retail and food and beverage in order to create a truly seamless experience for passengers. HIA offers 40,000 sq m of combined retail, food and beverage facilities, establishing QDF as a premier airport shopping and dining location.